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Ruby Dee (born 27 October 1924) is an Academy Award nominated American actress, poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
, playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
, screenwriter
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, journalist
Journalist

A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased....
, and activist
Activism

Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social change or politics change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversy argument....
.

was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
, the daughter of Gladys Hightower and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter, and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee's father married Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Dee grew up in Harlem, New York.






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Ruby Dee (born 27 October 1924) is an Academy Award nominated American actress, poet
Poet

A poet is a person who writes poetry....
, playwright
Playwright

A playwright, also known as a dramatist, is a person who writes dramatic literature or drama. These works may be written specifically to be performed by actors or they may be closet dramas or literary works written using dramatic forms but not meant for performance....
, screenwriter
Screenwriter

Screenwriters or scenarists are scriptwriters who write the screenplays from which films and television programs are made.Most screenwriters start their careers writing on speculation....
, journalist
Journalist

A journalist is a person who practices journalism, the gathering and dissemination of information about current events, trends, issues, and people while striving for viewpoints that aren't biased....
, and activist
Activism

Activism, in a general sense, can be described as intentional action to bring about social change or politics change. This action is in support of, or opposition to, one side of an often controversy argument....
.

Biography


Early years

Dee was born Ruby Ann Wallace in Cleveland, Ohio
Cleveland, Ohio

Cleveland is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, the most populous county in the state. The municipality is located in northeastern Ohio on the southern shore of Lake Erie, approximately 60 miles west of the Pennsylvania border....
, the daughter of Gladys Hightower and Marshall Edward Nathaniel Wallace, a cook, waiter, and porter. After her mother left the family, Dee's father married Emma Amelia Benson, a schoolteacher. Dee grew up in Harlem, New York. She attended Hunter College High School
Hunter College High School

For other uses of the acronym HCHS, see HCHS .Hunter College High School is a New York City secondary school for intellectually gifted students located on Manhattan's Upper East Side....
 and went on to graduate from Hunter College
Hunter College

Hunter College of the City University of New York is a senior college of the City University of New York , located on Manhattan's Upper East Side....
 with degrees in French
French language

French is a Romance language spoken around the world by around 80 million people as first language, by 190 million as second language, and by about another 200 million people as an acquired tongue, with significant speakers in 54 countries....
 and Spanish
Spanish language

Spanish or Castilian is a Romance languages that originated in northern Spain, and gradually spread in the Kingdom of Castile and evolved into the principal language of government and trade....
 in 1945. Dee is a member of Delta Sigma Theta
Delta Sigma Theta

Delta Sigma Theta is a non-profit Greek-lettered sorority of college-educated women who perform public service and place emphasis on the African American community....
 sorority, Inc.

Career

Dee made several appearances on Broadway
Broadway theatre

Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 39 large professional theaters with 500 seats or more located in the Theatre District, New York in Manhattan, New York City....
 before receiving national recognition for her role in the 1950 film The Jackie Robinson Story
The Jackie Robinson Story

The Jackie Robinson Story is a 1950 biography film starring baseball legend Jackie Robinson as himself. Even during its release in the era of segregation, the film did remarkably at the box office....
. Her career in acting has crossed all major forms of media over a span of eight decades, including the films A Raisin in the Sun
A Raisin in the Sun

A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway theatre in 1959. The story is based upon a family's own experiences growing up in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago, Illinois's Woodlawn, Chicago neighborhood....
, in which she recreated her stage role as a suffering housewife in the projects, and Edge of the City
Edge of the City

Edge of the City is a 1957 in film drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's List of directorial debuts as a director....
. She played both roles opposite Sidney Poitier
Sidney Poitier

Sir Sidney Poitier, Order of the British Empire is an Academy Award-, Golden Globe-, BAFTA- and Grammy award-winning Bahamas-United States actor, film director, author, and diplomat....
. During the 1960s, Dee appeared in such politically charged films as Gone Are the Days and The Incident
The Incident (film)

The Incident is an American film released in 1967 in film, directed by Larry Peerce and starring Beau Bridges, Tony Musante, Brock Peters and Martin Sheen in his first film role....
, which is recognized as helping pave the way for young African-American actors and filmmakers.

She appeared in one episode of the Golden Girls' sixth season. Dee has been nominated for eight Emmy Awards, winning once for her role in the 1990 TV film
Television movie

A television movie is a feature film that is produced for and originally distributed by a television network....
 Decoration Day
Decoration Day (film)

Decoration Day is a 1990 in film film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. It was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia ....
. She was nominated for her television guest appearance in the China Beach
China Beach

| show_name = China Beach | image = | caption = China Beach cast | format = Drama | runtime = 42 minutes | creator = William Broyles, Jr....
 episode, "Skylark." Her late husband Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis was an American film actor, film director, poet, playwright, writer, and activism....
 (1917-2005) also appeared in that episode.

In 2007 the winner of the Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album
Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album

The Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album has been awarded since 1959. The award had several minor name changes:*In 1959 the award was known as Best Performance, Documentary or Spoken Word...
 was tied between Dee and Ossie Davis for With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together, and former President Jimmy Carter
Jimmy Carter

James Earl "Jimmy" Carter, Jr. served as the List of Presidents of the United States President of the United States from 1977 to 1981 and was the recipient of the 2002 Nobel Peace Prize....
.

She was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress
Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress

Performance by an Actress in a Supporting Role is one of the Academy Award presented annually by the Academy of Motion Picture Arts and Sciences to recognize an actor who has delivered an outstanding performance while working within the film industry....
 in 2007 for her portrayal of Mama Lucas in American Gangster. She won the SAG award for the same performance. At 83 years old, Dee is currently the second oldest nominee for Best Supporting Actress, behind Gloria Stuart
Gloria Stuart

Gloria Frances Stewart, also known as Gloria Stuart is an American actor. Over a Hollywood career that spans more than 70 years, Stuart appeared on stage , television and film, and is best known as for her roles as Claude Rains' sweetheart in The Invisible Man and as the 100-year-old Rose in the film Titanic ....
 who was 87 for her role in Titanic
Titanic (1997 film)

Titanic is a 1997 United States romantic film directed, written, co-produced and co-edited by James Cameron about the sinking of the RMS Titanic....
. This was Dee's first nomination. It was also significant in that hers is the second shortest performance (at approximately five minutes) ever to be nominated for an acting Oscar, following that of the cameo appearance of Sylvia Miles
Sylvia Miles

Sylvia Miles is a two-time Academy Award-nominated United States actress.Miles was born Sylvia Reuben Lee in New York City, the daughter of Belle and Reuben Lee, a furniture maker....
 in Midnight Cowboy
Midnight Cowboy

Midnight Cowboy is a 1969 in film Cinema of the United States drama film based on the 1965 in literature Midnight Cowboy by James Leo Herlihy....
.

Personal life & activism

Ruby Wallace married blues singer Frankie Dee in the mid 1940s but later divorced him and married actor Ossie Davis
Ossie Davis

Ossie Davis was an American film actor, film director, poet, playwright, writer, and activism....
.

Together, Dee and Davis wrote an autobiography in which they discuss their political activism as well as insights on their open marriage
Open marriage

Open marriage typically refers to a marriage in which the partners agree that each may engage in adultery, without this being regarded as infidelity....
. Together they had three children; son, blues
Blues

Blues is a music genre based on the use of the blues chord progressions and the blue notes. Though several blues musical form s exist, the 12-bar blues chord progressions are the most frequently encountered....
 musician Guy Davis, and two daughters, Nora Day, and Hasna Muhammad. Dee has survived breast cancer
Breast cancer

Breast cancer is a cancer that starts in the Cell of the breast in women and men. Worldwide, breast cancer is the second most common type of cancer after lung cancer and the fifth most common cause of cancer death....
 for more than 30 years.

Dee and Davis were well-known civil rights activists. Among others, Dee is a member of Congress of Racial Equality
Congress of Racial Equality

The Congress of Racial Equality or CORE is a United States civil rights organization that played a pivotal role in the African-American Civil Rights Movement from its foundation in 1942 to the mid-1960s....
 (CORE), the NAACP, the Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee
Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee

The Student Nonviolent Coordinating Committee or SNCC was one of the principal organizations of the African-American Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s....
 and the Southern Christian Leadership Conference
Southern Christian Leadership Conference

The Southern Christian Leadership Conference is an United States civil rights organization. SCLC was closely associated with its first president, Dr....
. Dee and Davis were personal friends of both Martin Luther King, Jr.
Martin Luther King, Jr.

Martin Luther King, Jr. was an United States pastor, activist and prominent leader in the African-American African-American Civil Rights Movement ....
 and Malcolm X
Malcolm X

Malcolm X , also known as Hajji Malik El-Shabazz , was an African American Muslim minister, public speaker, and human rights activist. To his admirers, he was a courageous advocate for the rights of African Americans, a man who indicted white America in the harshest terms for its crimes against black Americans....
, with Davis giving the eulogy
Eulogy

A eulogy is a Speech or writing in praise of a person or thing, especially one recently deceased or retired. The word is derived from the Greek word e?????a , meaning praise ....
 at the latter's funeral in 1965.

In November 2005 Dee was awarded along with her late husband the Lifetime Achievement Freedom Award, presened by the National Civil Rights Museum located in Memphis,TN.Dee, who is a long time resident of New Rochelle, New York
New Rochelle, New York

New Rochelle is a Political subdivisions of New York State#City in the south-east portion of the U.S. state of New York in Westchester County, New York....
, was inducted into the Westchester County
Westchester County, New York

Westchester County is a primarily suburban Political subdivisions of New York State#County located in the U.S. state of New York with about 950,000 residents....
 Women’s Hall of Fame on March 30, 2007 joining the ranks with past honorees, Hillary Clinton, Sally Ziegler and Nita Lowey
Nita Lowey

Nita M. Lowey is a politician from the U.S. state of New York.Lowey was born in the Bronx in New York, New York and she graduated from Mount Holyoke College with a bachelor's degree....
.

Work


Filmography

  • America
    America (2009 film)

    America is a 2009 Lifetime Television Television film starring Rosie O?Donnell, Ruby Dee and new comer, Phillp Johnson. It was directed by Yves Simoneau and written by Joyce Eliason....
     (2009)
  • All About Us (2007)
  • American Gangster (2007)
  • ' (2007)
  • Flying Over Purgatory (2007)
  • No. 2 (2006)
  • Dream Street
    Dream Street

    Dream Street was an United States pop music boy band that was formed in early 1999 and broke up in 2002....
     (2005)
  • The Way Back Home
    The Way Back Home

    The Way Back Home is the third studio album by American country music artist Vince Gill. It was released in 1987 on RCA Records and it produced four chart singles on the Billboard country charts....
     (2005)
  • Their Eyes Were Watching God
    Their Eyes Were Watching God (2005 television)

    Their Eyes Were Watching God is a 2005 television movie based upon Zora Neale Hurston's 1937 Their Eyes Were Watching God of the same name. The film was directed by Darnell Martin and produced by Oprah Winfrey's Harpo Productions ....
     (2005)
  • Beah: A Black Woman Speaks
    Beah: A Black Woman Speaks

    Beah: A Black Woman Speaks is a 2003 Documentary film about the life of Academy Award nominated actress Beah Richards. Directed by Lisa Gay Hamilton, it won the Documentary Award at the American Film Institute Los Angeles International Film Festival in 2003....
     (2003)
  • Unchained Memories: Readings from the Slave Narratives (2003)
  • Baby of the Family (2002)
  • The Unfinished Journey (1999)
  • Having Our Say: The Delany Sisters' First 100 Years (1999)
  • Baby Geniuses
    Baby Geniuses

    Baby Geniuses is a 1999 action/comedy directed by Bob Clark, rated PG for crude humor and mild expletives and violence.The film made a profit, earning US$27 million gross against a US$13 million budget....
     (1999)
  • A Time to Dance: The Life and Work of Norma Canner (1998)
  • A Simple Wish
    A Simple Wish

    A Simple Wish is a 1997 in film comedy film directed by Michael Ritchie, and starring Martin Short, Mara Wilson and Kathleen Turner. The film about a bumbling male fairy godmother named Murray , who tries to help eight-year-old Anabel fulfill her wish that her father, a carriage driver, wins the leading role in a Broadway theatre musical...
     (1997)
  • Just Cause
    Just Cause (film)

    Just Cause is a 1995 film directed by Arne Glimcher and starring Sean Connery and Laurence Fishburne. It is based on John Katzenbach's novel of the same name....
     (1995)
  • Tuesday Morning Ride (1995)
  • The Stand
    The Stand (TV miniseries)

    The Stand is a 1994 television miniseries based on the novel The Stand by Stephen King. King also wrote the teleplay. It was directed by Mick Garris and stars Gary Sinise, Molly Ringwald and Jamey Sheridan....
     (1994)
  • Cop & 1/2 (1993)
  • Jazztime Tale (1992)
  • Jungle Fever
    Jungle Fever

    Jungle Fever is a 1991 drama film directed by Spike Lee, starring Wesley Snipes and Annabella Sciorra. It was Lee's fifth feature-length film....
     (1991)
  • Color Adjustment: Blacks in Primetime (1991)
  • Love at Large
    Love at Large

    Love at Large is a 1990 in film romance film directed by Alan Rudolph and starring Tom Berenger. ...
     (1990)
  • The Golden Girls
    The Golden Girls

    The Golden Girls is an United States situation comedy that originally aired on NBC from September 14, 1985, to May 9, 1992. Starring Bea Arthur, Betty White, Rue McClanahan and Estelle Getty, the show centers on four older women sharing a Miami, Florida home....
    , episode "Wham Bam Thank You Mammy," as Mammy (1990)
  • Do the Right Thing
    Do the Right Thing

    Do the Right Thing is a 1989 in film written, produced and directed by Spike Lee. The film tells a tale of bigotry and racial conflict in a multi-ethnic community in the Bedford-Stuyvesant neighborhood of Brooklyn, New York on the hottest day of the year....
     (1989)
  • Cat People
    Cat People (1982 film)

    Cat People is a 1982 in film horror film directed by Paul Schrader and starring Nastassja Kinski, Malcolm McDowell, and John Heard . The film co-stars Annette O'Toole, Ruby Dee, and features small parts for Ed Begley, Jr....
     (1982)
  • The Torture of Mothers (1980)


  • Roots: The Next Generations
    Roots: The Next Generations

    Roots: The Next Generations is a 1979 television miniseries that continues the story of the family of Alex Haley from the time of Reconstruction era of the United States to Haley researching his family history and his travels to Africa to learn of his ancestor, Kunta Kinte....
     (1979, TV)
  • Countdown at Kusini (1976)
  • Lorraine Hansberry: The Black Experience in the Creation of Drama (1975)
  • It's Good to Be Alive (1974)
  • Wattstax
    Wattstax

    Wattstax is a 1973 documentary film by Mel Stuart that focused on the 1972 Wattstax music festival and the African American community of Watts, Los Angeles, California in Los Angeles, California....
     (1973)
  • Black Girl (1972)
  • Buck and the Preacher
    Buck and the Preacher

    Buck and the Preacher is a 1972 American Western film starring Sidney Poitier as Buck and Harry Belafonte as the Preacher. Buck is a trail guide leading groups of former Slavery in the United States trying to Homestead Act in the Western United States, immediately after the American Civil War....
     (1972)
  • King: A Filmed Record... Montgomery to Memphis (1970)
  • Up Tight!
    Up Tight!

    Up Tight! is a 1968 in film drama film directed by Jules Dassin....
     (1968) (also writer and co-producer)
  • The Incident
    The Incident (film)

    The Incident is an American film released in 1967 in film, directed by Larry Peerce and starring Beau Bridges, Tony Musante, Brock Peters and Martin Sheen in his first film role....
     (1967)
  • Gone Are the Days! (1963)
  • The Balcony
    The Balcony (film)

    The Balcony is a cinematic adaptation of Jean Genet's play The Balcony, directed by Joseph Strick and released in 1963. It starred Shelley Winters, Peter Falk, Lee Grant and Leonard Nimoy....
     (1963)
  • A Raisin in the Sun
    A Raisin in the Sun (film)

    A Raisin in the Sun is a 1961 in film drama film starring Sidney Poitier, Ruby Dee, Diana Sands, Roy Glenn, and Louis Gossett, Jr.. The adaptation was based on the A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry....
     (1961)
  • Take a Giant Step (1959)
  • St. Louis Blues
    St. Louis Blues (1958 film)

    St. Louis Blues is a 1958 in film film broadly based on the life of W. C. Handy. It starred jazz and blues greats Nat King Cole, Pearl Bailey, Cab Calloway, Ella Fitzgerald, Eartha Kitt, and Barney Bigard, as well as gospel music singer Mahalia Jackson and actor Ruby Dee....
     (1958)
  • Virgin Island (1958)
  • Edge of the City
    Edge of the City

    Edge of the City is a 1957 in film drama film directed by Martin Ritt, starring John Cassavetes and Sidney Poitier. It was Ritt's List of directorial debuts as a director....
     (1957)
  • The Great American Pastime (1956)
  • Go, Man, Go!
    Go, Man, Go!

    Go, Man, Go! is a 1954 sports film starring Dane Clark, Sidney Poitier and Harlem Globetrotters. Clark plays Abe Saperstein, the organizer of the Globetrotters....
     (1954)
  • The Tall Target (1951)
  • No Way Out
    No Way Out (1950 film)

    No Way Out is a black-and-white film noir directed by Joseph L. Mankiewicz, and starring Richard Widmark, Linda Darnell, Stephen McNally, and Sidney Poitier....
     (1950)
  • The Jackie Robinson Story
    The Jackie Robinson Story

    The Jackie Robinson Story is a 1950 biography film starring baseball legend Jackie Robinson as himself. Even during its release in the era of segregation, the film did remarkably at the box office....
     (1950)
  • The Fight Never Ends (1949)
  • That Man of Mine (1947)
  • What a Guy (1939)

Stage productions

  • South Pacific
    South Pacific (musical)

    South Pacific is a 1949 in music#Musical theater with music by Richard Rodgers, lyrics by Oscar Hammerstein II and book by Hammerstein and Joshua Logan....
     (1943)
  • Anna Lucasta (1944)
  • Jeb (1946)
  • A Long Way From Home (1948)
  • The Smile of the World (1949)
  • A Raisin in the Sun
    A Raisin in the Sun

    A Raisin in the Sun is a play by Lorraine Hansberry that debuted on Broadway theatre in 1959. The story is based upon a family's own experiences growing up in the Washington Park Subdivision of Chicago, Illinois's Woodlawn, Chicago neighborhood....
     (1959)
  • Purlie Victorious (1961)
  • Checkmates (1988)

Discography

  • The Original Read-In for Peace in Vietnam (Folkways Records
    Folkways Records

    Folkways Records is a record label that documents folk and world music. It is owned by the Smithsonian Institution....
    , 1967)
  • What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 1: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)
  • What if I am a Woman?, Vol. 2: Black Women's Speeches (Folkways, 1977)
  • Every Tone a Testimony (Smithsonian Folkways, 2001)


Awards and nominations

Awards
  • 1961: National Board of Review Award for Best Supporting Actress – A Raisin in the Sun
  • 1971: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Boesman and Lena
    Boesman and Lena

    Boesman and Lena is a Play by South Africa's Athol Fugard.The play was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa....
  • 1971: Obie Award for Best Performance by an Actress – Boesman and Lena
    Boesman and Lena

    Boesman and Lena is a Play by South Africa's Athol Fugard.The play was inspired by an incident in 1965 when Fugard was driving down a rural road in South Africa....
  • 1973: Drama Desk Award Outstanding Performance – Wedding Band
  • 1991: Emmy Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Mini–Series or TV Movie – Decoration Day
    Decoration Day (film)

    Decoration Day is a 1990 in film film based on a novel by John William Corrington of the same title. It was directed by Robert Markowitz and filmed on location in Georgia ....
  • 2001: Screen Actors Guild Lifetime Achievement Award
  • 2007: Grammy Award for Best Spoken Word Album- With Ossie And Ruby: In This Life Together
  • 2008: African–American Film Critics Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster
  • 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Supporting Role – American Gangster
Nominations
  • 1993: Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series – Evening Shade
    Evening Shade

    Evening Shade is an United States comedy television series which aired on CBS from 1990 to 1994. The sitcom starred Burt Reynolds as Wood Newton, an ex-professional American football player for the Pittsburgh Steelers, who returns to rural Evening Shade, Arkansas to coach a high school football team with a long losing streak....
  • 2002: Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Actress – Saint Lucy's Eyes
  • 2008: Academy Award for Best Actress in a Supporting Role – American Gangster
  • 2008: Image Award for Outstanding Supporting Actress in a Motion Picture – American Gangster
  • 2008: Satellite Award Best Supporting Actress – American Gangster
  • 2008: Screen Actors Guild Outstanding Cast in a Motion Picture – American Gangster


Bibliography


External links

  • at the Internet Off-Broadway Database
    Lortel Archives

    The Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway....
  • at The National Visionary Leadership Project
  • on Wikipedia
  • at Smithsonian Folkways